A computer system includes a number of components, such as a central processing unit (CPU), system memory, mass storage devices, software such as an operating system and application software, and peripheral components. A computer system can be used as a stand-alone device, or the computer system can be connected to a network to enable communication with other computer systems, including servers and other user stations. A server in a computer network environment provides a number of different services, including storage of user information, storage of application software that can be loaded onto user stations for execution, storage of configuration information to configure user stations, provision of electronic mail services, provision of web access services, and so forth.
In many business and educational facilities (e.g., large corporations, universities, and so forth), a large number of servers can be present. In some cases, servers may be provided in racks in server rooms within a building. There can potentially be hundreds or even thousands of servers in some facilities.
To place servers into service, the servers are set up by a system administrator. The system administrator can either perform local setup of servers (the system administrator is located in the same room as the servers), or the system administrator can perform remote setup of servers. Setting up a small number of servers is a relatively easy task, which usually does not consume too much time. However, for facilities that include large numbers of servers, the server setup process can be quite tedious and time consuming.
In a network environment, servers can be configured to run one of several different types of operating systems. Depending on which type of operating system is to be loaded on a given server, the system administrator may have to configure settings in the server differently. Typically, server settings are set by a system administrator through a setup utility that is activated by the administrator pressing a predetermined function key (e.g., F9, F10, etc.) during the initial stages of a power-on sequence of the server. In the setup utility, the system administrator can select the various server settings for a target operating system. Such manual configuration of operating systems settings for a large number of servers can be tedious and time consuming.